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seal(cross-posted from LJ)
Yesterday evening was the first time I could log into LJ in 3 days or so, and the forced hiatus really once again made me realize just how much LJ still means to me, in spite of being abandoned by the trend sensitive lazy petals of faceboob.
When I do my writing, I take breaks, and primarily LJ is my break reward. It's worked very well for me during countless projects over the years. So 3 days without it was an illuminating experience.
I'm sorry that Russian drone attacks may be the slow death to LJ (I hope not), but still, even with becoming unhip and with the issues it has in periods, using faceboob for my major breaks over these 3 days made me realize how much more primitive and less exciting the whole format is. I missed the heck out of LJ, and managed to be harassed by a Nietzsche-loving philosophy major idiot on Faceboob on top of it all. Hey, with Faceboob being what it is, I could even be really mean and post his real name if I wanted to.
I've read a fair amount of Nietzsche back in the day, and by that I do not mean all of Zarathustra and nothing else, I've read most of his aphorism and meditations, The Gay science, Beyond Good and Evil, Ecce Homo, Zarathustra of course, his texts on the Greeks and on his dispute with Wagner. Let's just say that I had a period in my life where I was intensely focused on certain reading. I still go back to Nietzsche (among other writers) from time to time. And I too, along with most young people at some point in their tunnel visioned focused educational reading experiences had that Aha-moment, where I thought I grasped his vision. (There is of course no proof of really having done so, no expert in the world could claim this, but most people do anyway, and this guy on faceboob certainly claimed it)
So, an old classmate of mine posted about appreciating Nietzsche more as an artist than philosopher, and how he was very often misunderstood by people who hadn't read him much at all, but had a knee-jerk reaction to him from reputation and snippet quotes.
I concurred, but also added that I could understand female readers going through N for the fist time and getting disenamored with him from certain passages. Me and him went back and forth a bit in an amiable fashion, talking about our impressions, me mentioning my mixed feelings when reading N as a young girl (mixed as in the true definition of the word, with real exhilaration and awe mixed with disappointment and frustration). And next, this douchebag on my classmate's friendslist butts in with a typical standard texbook philosophy major's tone, saying things like "okay, I'll bite" (as if I was even aware of his existence), wanting me to "prove things" and asking me for explanations on passages.
His first response sounded okay, as if it was an honest discussion, and I summarized a passage from my memory of "The Gay Science" that talks about Women and education and why it is no good (it sounds worse than it is, I understand N's reasoning on artificiality in that text, but it still has flaws in the very taxonomy he often dabbles with in genders and cultures and other groups, even when it is flattering), and provided one quote about older women being skeptics.
But then he started to creep me out in that familiar armchair way of philosophy majors when they think themselves superior and smelling blood. (oh reeeally, tell me more quotes and why they make you feel as you do, this promises to be awesome, blah blah). So, I got pissed.
I made him cry. Or the internet equivalent of it.
The way to make a philosophy major cry is to make him lose his shit and call you names (kind of like Godwin's law about losing an argument automatically by referring to Nazism) I refused to play his game and started asking him questions instead. He started claiming that "the burden of proof" was on me because I had a "thesis", I started analyzing his discussion style and explaining why he wasn't having an honest discussion, but rather a self constructed straw man that he was trying to give a hand job on his own (by claiming that I was "irked" by Nietzsche and having a "thesis" about my irritations - something I disproved easily enough by pointing to real quotations between me and my friend) I also gently pointed out that perhaps he couldn't dictate a "debate" that I hadn't even agreed to in the fist hand.
I then continued in a parallel thread to discuss Nietzsche with my friend (who was amused by the exchange), and gave him examples and explanations to the mixed feelings from my favorite Nietzsche texts.
The guy blew a fuse and told me that "I did a disservice to my gender" and (insert random list of negative traits, such as being coy for instance), and by behaving the way I had, I had also PROVEN Nietzsche's theses about women (which this dude had initially claimed were *not* truly negative, so the contradictions in his statements reached epic proportions here)
Basically he lost his shit in the last rant, and proved that while Nietzsche may not in fact have been a real misogynist (which I had never claimed), just like he wasn't ever a proto-Nazi (he was actually very anti-German), the dude on facebook spewed a bona fide misogynist rant, which in philosophy major debate-land is the same as crying, pissing your pants and accusing someone of being a Nazi.
I sweetly answered that whatever I had done, I at least hadn't called him by a list of negative traits, and said that I hoped this made it clear that I had never wanted any form of debate with him.
I felt dirty and exhilarated and tired for a second. Cross my heart, I usually walk away from shit like this. Countless times I've done it. I *like* discussing with my friends, and something in my discussions seems to tempt random asshats to butt in uninvited. I usually ignore it, but my absence from LJ made me bored and frustrated on my break, and thus sordid drama took place.
And this was actually rather intelligent for Faceboob, believe it or not.
Someone on a LJ friends flist said the other day that what makes LJ exceptional is the phenomena of friends, friendslocking, threaded conversations, communities, and the ability to show off links and videos and pictures in the same post all at once.
And I agree, this makes LJ unique, to this day no other forum has figures out the brilliance of these traits put together.
I'll stay here until it drops. But I'll start cross posting on Dreamwidth more, in case the Russian cyber terrorists bomb LJ. I will always post here first though.
I also hope that G+ will, in spite of recent controversy with aliases, give Faceboob a good run for it, so that I can, as I plan, just shift to G+ and do my limited social networking there, with a much smaller and more selective group of "friends" over there.
If it's one thing faceboob was good for, it is to show which individuals you have any ties to still and who your relationship is stone dead with, and I will really use that knowledge on G+. I'm already careful with my invites there and who I add to circles.
Hit me up in a private message if you are on Dreamwidth and want to be friends, or if you plan on some G+ activity in the future. I'll always stay on LJ, but if we're bombed for long periods here, alternatives that aren't faceboob are good to have. I like my friendslist on LJ fiercely.
Yesterday evening was the first time I could log into LJ in 3 days or so, and the forced hiatus really once again made me realize just how much LJ still means to me, in spite of being abandoned by the trend sensitive lazy petals of faceboob.
When I do my writing, I take breaks, and primarily LJ is my break reward. It's worked very well for me during countless projects over the years. So 3 days without it was an illuminating experience.
I'm sorry that Russian drone attacks may be the slow death to LJ (I hope not), but still, even with becoming unhip and with the issues it has in periods, using faceboob for my major breaks over these 3 days made me realize how much more primitive and less exciting the whole format is. I missed the heck out of LJ, and managed to be harassed by a Nietzsche-loving philosophy major idiot on Faceboob on top of it all. Hey, with Faceboob being what it is, I could even be really mean and post his real name if I wanted to.
I've read a fair amount of Nietzsche back in the day, and by that I do not mean all of Zarathustra and nothing else, I've read most of his aphorism and meditations, The Gay science, Beyond Good and Evil, Ecce Homo, Zarathustra of course, his texts on the Greeks and on his dispute with Wagner. Let's just say that I had a period in my life where I was intensely focused on certain reading. I still go back to Nietzsche (among other writers) from time to time. And I too, along with most young people at some point in their tunnel visioned focused educational reading experiences had that Aha-moment, where I thought I grasped his vision. (There is of course no proof of really having done so, no expert in the world could claim this, but most people do anyway, and this guy on faceboob certainly claimed it)
So, an old classmate of mine posted about appreciating Nietzsche more as an artist than philosopher, and how he was very often misunderstood by people who hadn't read him much at all, but had a knee-jerk reaction to him from reputation and snippet quotes.
I concurred, but also added that I could understand female readers going through N for the fist time and getting disenamored with him from certain passages. Me and him went back and forth a bit in an amiable fashion, talking about our impressions, me mentioning my mixed feelings when reading N as a young girl (mixed as in the true definition of the word, with real exhilaration and awe mixed with disappointment and frustration). And next, this douchebag on my classmate's friendslist butts in with a typical standard texbook philosophy major's tone, saying things like "okay, I'll bite" (as if I was even aware of his existence), wanting me to "prove things" and asking me for explanations on passages.
His first response sounded okay, as if it was an honest discussion, and I summarized a passage from my memory of "The Gay Science" that talks about Women and education and why it is no good (it sounds worse than it is, I understand N's reasoning on artificiality in that text, but it still has flaws in the very taxonomy he often dabbles with in genders and cultures and other groups, even when it is flattering), and provided one quote about older women being skeptics.
But then he started to creep me out in that familiar armchair way of philosophy majors when they think themselves superior and smelling blood. (oh reeeally, tell me more quotes and why they make you feel as you do, this promises to be awesome, blah blah). So, I got pissed.
I made him cry. Or the internet equivalent of it.
The way to make a philosophy major cry is to make him lose his shit and call you names (kind of like Godwin's law about losing an argument automatically by referring to Nazism) I refused to play his game and started asking him questions instead. He started claiming that "the burden of proof" was on me because I had a "thesis", I started analyzing his discussion style and explaining why he wasn't having an honest discussion, but rather a self constructed straw man that he was trying to give a hand job on his own (by claiming that I was "irked" by Nietzsche and having a "thesis" about my irritations - something I disproved easily enough by pointing to real quotations between me and my friend) I also gently pointed out that perhaps he couldn't dictate a "debate" that I hadn't even agreed to in the fist hand.
I then continued in a parallel thread to discuss Nietzsche with my friend (who was amused by the exchange), and gave him examples and explanations to the mixed feelings from my favorite Nietzsche texts.
The guy blew a fuse and told me that "I did a disservice to my gender" and (insert random list of negative traits, such as being coy for instance), and by behaving the way I had, I had also PROVEN Nietzsche's theses about women (which this dude had initially claimed were *not* truly negative, so the contradictions in his statements reached epic proportions here)
Basically he lost his shit in the last rant, and proved that while Nietzsche may not in fact have been a real misogynist (which I had never claimed), just like he wasn't ever a proto-Nazi (he was actually very anti-German), the dude on facebook spewed a bona fide misogynist rant, which in philosophy major debate-land is the same as crying, pissing your pants and accusing someone of being a Nazi.
I sweetly answered that whatever I had done, I at least hadn't called him by a list of negative traits, and said that I hoped this made it clear that I had never wanted any form of debate with him.
I felt dirty and exhilarated and tired for a second. Cross my heart, I usually walk away from shit like this. Countless times I've done it. I *like* discussing with my friends, and something in my discussions seems to tempt random asshats to butt in uninvited. I usually ignore it, but my absence from LJ made me bored and frustrated on my break, and thus sordid drama took place.
And this was actually rather intelligent for Faceboob, believe it or not.
Someone on a LJ friends flist said the other day that what makes LJ exceptional is the phenomena of friends, friendslocking, threaded conversations, communities, and the ability to show off links and videos and pictures in the same post all at once.
And I agree, this makes LJ unique, to this day no other forum has figures out the brilliance of these traits put together.
I'll stay here until it drops. But I'll start cross posting on Dreamwidth more, in case the Russian cyber terrorists bomb LJ. I will always post here first though.
I also hope that G+ will, in spite of recent controversy with aliases, give Faceboob a good run for it, so that I can, as I plan, just shift to G+ and do my limited social networking there, with a much smaller and more selective group of "friends" over there.
If it's one thing faceboob was good for, it is to show which individuals you have any ties to still and who your relationship is stone dead with, and I will really use that knowledge on G+. I'm already careful with my invites there and who I add to circles.
Hit me up in a private message if you are on Dreamwidth and want to be friends, or if you plan on some G+ activity in the future. I'll always stay on LJ, but if we're bombed for long periods here, alternatives that aren't faceboob are good to have. I like my friendslist on LJ fiercely.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-29 09:28 pm (UTC)And at least it's nice to feel like you were on the winning side in discussions like that one.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-30 05:35 pm (UTC)I've never had one of these FB arguments because I so rarely visit the site. None of the people I'm linked to on FB seems to be interested in talking about anything that might spark debate. Okay, less than a handful do but FB has never felt like the right medium for conversation, IMO.
Glad you've set up a back-up journal, Seal! Hope you enjoy Dreamwidth!
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 08:52 pm (UTC)Good on you!!! Make the douchebags cry (or leak, perhaps!!!), and I absotively poselutely agree with you on using that knowledge on G+. I'm very careful there, as well!!!